Talent Management

CEOs have been fixating on the importance of millennials as consumers and workers. But have they thought about the kind of leaders the members of Generation Y will become as they age and climb into important positions in their businesses? And more importantly, how the grooming and mentoring process might need to change to optimize their growth and their strengths?

A recent Supreme Court ruling making it easier for retirement plan participants to sue organizations acting as plan sponsors should alert CEOs to scrutinize retirement plan investments on a regular basis.

Nearly half of American jobs could be automated in “a decade or two,” according to a recent argument by two researchers in The Economist. The jobs of everyone from telemarketers to title examiners to watch repairers to library technicians have become endangered by advances from the Internet of things, while many of those that have been deemed safe from such disruption are hands-on healthcare-related occupations: mental-health social workers, oral surgeons, prosthetists and recreational therapists. Yet, as this phenomenon unfolds, it underscores areas of opportunity, not only for individuals, but also for companies organized around their skills.

The benefits to businesses of classifying workers as independent contractors (and not employees) are many: lower taxes, greater freedom from government regulation, exemption from many laws governing the workplace, and potentially lower labor costs. The border between contractors and employees is blurry, however, and businesses must be careful to avoid misclassification, as significant liabilities may arise from getting it wrong: unpaid wages, liquidated damages, back taxes, disqualification of benefit plans, overtime liability, contributions to retirement plans, social security and FICA payments, and even criminal penalties (in rare circumstances).

On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its much-awaited decision in King v. Burwell, a case that debates whether people who buy health care through the federally run health care exchange are entitled to tax subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). What should companies do next?

A new study by Deloitte shows that hiring in the mid-market has cooled off since fall 2014. While 55% of mid-market executives reported increases in their domestic, full-time workforce over the past 12 months, the number of mid-market executives who plan to hire in the coming year fell to 58% from 63% in fall 2014.

Making the connection between leadership and the company bottom line isn’t revolutionary. But Gallup estimates that 70% of U.S. workers are not engaged at work, and puts the cost of disengagement at $550 billion per year.